


Foundation

by meglorraine



Series: November 2016 Prompts [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Tony No, Tony needs to deal with his feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:32:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meglorraine/pseuds/meglorraine
Summary: Tony needs to deal with things.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I did a month long writing challenge in November, this is from the 14th prompt "Foundation."

Tony sighed as he pulled up to the frame of a house. It was victorian in design. There was a wrap around veranda and the basics of a tower sticking out of the side. The house was almost finished on the outside.

He had planned this house back when the Avengers were still together. It was supposed to be a retreat. A safe house. Now it’s just another pet project. It could have been done months ago, but Tony had decided to build it himself. Or rather, mostly himself.

Tony had hired a small construction crew and ran them through some very complicated security checks. They met every once in a while, in between the other jobs they did, to work on the house. The crew was already there, sitting in the bed of Alex’s pickup truck laughing over some coffee.

“Hey guys.” Tony said, getting out of his car.

“Told you it’d be the red one.” Rob said with a laugh. Every time they worked on the house Rob would try to guess which car Tony would arrive in. Some how he’s usually right.

“Yeah, yeah.” Alex said, hopping out of the bed of the truck. “Boss-man’s here. Time to get to work.” The crew all got out of the pick up and started heading to the house, listening to Alex as he barked out the plan for the day. They had a lot to get done, he wanted to finish the exterior before the storm this weekend.

“It’s good to see you Tony.” Brenda, a large and muscular woman, said with a pat on Tony’s back. “Mary was getting worried that you were gonna drop the project after everything that went down.” Mary was the only other woman on the crew. She was usually up on the roof or in the scaffolding.

“Yeah. It was touch and go for a while. I didn’t want to leave Rhodey until there was progress with his PT.” Tony explained, tugging on his work gloves.

They worked until noon when Maria, Alex’s wife, pulled up with sandwiches for everyone. They enjoyed a picnic on the veranda and chatted for a while before going back to work. Alex was really pushing everyone so they worked until sundown. Tony set up some lights so they could keep working after dinner, which Rob’s wife Nan brought. They got far enough in the construction that Alex had everyone stop for the night. Tony stayed in a motel nearby and they were back at it the next morning. They continued at this pace for the next two days, finishing the exterior just as the storm hit. Everyone went home, leaving Alex and Tony to discuss the design for the interior. Where to get the tiles and carpets. Tony wanted everything locally sourced, the area could use some extra business.

* * *

 

About three months after the exterior was finished, the crew finished the interior. Tony threw a moving in party. He ordered his usual amount of pizzas, too much it turns out for a construction crew to eat. In two days, they got every room set up and ready to be lived in. The crew left with two whole pizzas each as left overs and suddenly Tony was alone in the house he had built for his team. His chest ached and tears welled up behind his eyes. He didn’t stay the night in the house. He flew back to New York, asking Pepper to fill up his schedule, there was work to be done somewhere.

* * *

 

Tony was working himself to the bone. He had nearly collapsed from exhaustion twice in front of Pepper and three times in front of Natasha. He’d done it a lot more when he was alone. It was easier that way. Work until the only thing keeping him up were his bones. If he was exhausted enough maybe he’d be able to sleep and not have nightmares.

Pepper cleared his schedule and, Natasha and Vision forcibly put him on his private jet, sending him to the house he had spent so much time working on for a few days of rest.

“Yes Pepper, I’ve landed safely. Brenda picked me up and we got groceries. We’re bringing them into the house now.” Tony sighed as he waved at Brenda as she drove down the driveway. He had the bag of groceries on the veranda. He didn’t want Brenda to see how not-lived-in the place was. “I have to go now and yes I’ll remember to eat my vegetables, mom.” he teased as he hung up on Pepper. He knew she was doing her best to not hover, but even he could see that he was self destructing. He’s just lucky that Natasha hadn’t decided to go with him.

Tony picked up his one bag of food and unlocked the front door. He shuffled by the living room and into the kitchen, tossing his keys on the counter and heading straight for the fridge. He threw open the door, planning on just leaving the bag of groceries on the nearest shelf but froze mid movement. There on the shelf level with his face was a carton of eggs, a jug of orange juice, a gallon of milk, and leftovers? Tony blinked at the food in his fridge, the fridge that should be empty. He slowly lowered his bag of food to the floor and silently closed the fridge.

Tony glanced around the kitchen, no one was in there with him. He activated his watch and pulled his repulsor over his hand. Tony carefully cleared the first floor. When he cleared the second floor he found that some of the rooms looked like they had been lived in. Not by much, just some clothing around a couple duffel bags and the beds looked slept in.

Back on the first floor, with the groceries finally put away, Tony had made himself a sandwich, Pepper would murder him if he skipped another meal. Besides, if the people staying in Tony’s house wanted their stuff back, they’d have to come and get it. He’d get his answers then. “Friday, are you synced with the house yet?” he asked out loud.

“Yes, Boss.” Friday replied.

“Good.” Tony said, taking a bite out of his sandwich. “Alert me when anyone crosses the perimeter."

“Will do Boss.”

Tony finished his sandwich and went to the basement/workshop to start working on one of his extra projects that he kept on a private server and under a dramatic amount of security.

* * *

 

“Perimeter’s been breached, Boss.” Friday said about an hour into working with the holograms in his workshop.

“Show me.” Tony said, ask a video feed from the lamp post popped up. A group of people were walking up the drive way. They all had hats on, pulled low on their faces. “Time to greet the party crashers.” Tony muttered, pulling on his repulsor again and heading up to the veranda.

He stood around the corner so he could watch the group of people come closer to the house, the group looked like it was one woman and three men. He stepped out and aimed his repulsor at them. “Alright. Party’s over. Who are you and how did you get in my house?” He called out.

The group stopped, looked at each other and then one man stepped forward. It looked like he was the leader, but the woman spoke up first. “You going to shoot us, Stark?” She had a thick Sokovian accent.

“Wanda?” Tony’s chest ached as he lowered his repulsor.

“Wait, we’ve been crashing at his place?” one of the men said, Lang, or something like that.

“Calm down Tic-Tac.” the third man, Sam Wilson, said as he took off his hat and sunglasses, “Hey Tony.”

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked, it was a dumb question but it was the best he had right now.

“Well, we’re still fugitives so we’re hiding out.” Steve shrugged, removing his hat as well. Tony’s insides felt like they were going to burst. He didn’t know if he was happy to see the other half of his team or guilty for splitting them up in the first place. Part of him wanted to give them all a hug and ask them to come back, the other part of him wanted to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness.

“What are you going to do Stark?” Wanda asked, as if she couldn’t just pop into his mind and find the answer for herself.

“You’re the psychic, you tell me.” Tony quipped. Honestly he had no idea what he was going to do about this little development.

“Incoming call Boss.” Friday announced.

“Ignore it.” He said on reflex.

“It’s Miss Potts, Boss.” Friday replied.

“Shit, okay. Put her through.” Tony sighed, leaning against the house.

“Tony?” Pepper asked through the speakers on the veranda.

“Yeah Pep?” Tony replied, hoping that he sounded normal.

“I just wanted to check in. Make sure you’re doing okay?” She sounded so worried about Tony.

“I’m fine, Pep. Got settled in and everything.” Tony said, rubbing the bridge of his nose, exhaustion sweeping over him.

“Natasha wants me to remind you to start cooking dinner so you can eat at an actual dinner time.”

“What, eleven at night to three in the morning isn’t considered dinner?” Tony teased.

“No Tony. It’s not.” Pepper gave a little laugh. That’s good, maybe he’s getting better at hiding the truth from Pepper.

“Alright. I’m gonna start making pasta now. Okay?”

“Okay. Goodnight Tony.” Pepper said, he could almost see her sad smile.

“'Night Pepper.” Tony said before Friday disconnected the call. He glanced over at Wanda, Lang, Sam, and Steve. “You heard the woman. Dinner time. You guys up for pasta?” Tony asked as he pushed himself from the wall and walked back into the house. They could work through their problems tomorrow, after all Tony was becoming a master at ignoring his problems.


End file.
